Untitled article by Roswell F. Cottrell

Pacific Press Publishing Company · New York · January 7, 1892

FromThe American Sentinel, Vol. 7, No. 1

What Do They Want?

By Roswell F. Cottrell

THE first number of a paper entitled, Political Dissenter, published at the office of the Christian Statesman, is before me. Its first page reveals the object to which it aims. It holds that “consistent followers of Christ must stand aloof from any association which . . . places itself . . . in antagonism to the law of Christ.” The writer refers to our Constitution as being antagonistic to the law of Christ; for he immediately adds, “Not until the loyal followers of the King of kings shall faithfully carry out this principle will they control the social and political life of the Nation.”

This plainly reveals the fact that the party of which the Dissenter is spokesman, are aiming to get the control of the political life of the Nation.

On the same page is a report of a sermon preached by Dr. R. M. Patterson, editor of the Presbyterian Journal, of Philadelphia, and indorsed by the editor of the Dissenter, in which it is said:—

The preacher’s aim was to show that this Nation was designed of God in his providence to be a Protestant Christian nation; and that either secularism on the one hand, and Romanism on the other hand, if carried out in our national life, would revolutionize our political being. In stirring strains of eloquence the preacher called upon all loyal American citizens to resist the encroachments of both the secular and Roman Catholic theories of civil government, which are menacing what is dearest and best in our civil and political institutions.

From this representation it is clear that there are two rival bodies, each professing the Christian religion, who are striving to get the control of our civil Government. We ask, What difference will it make to dissenters which of the two succeeds? The aim of each is the same, to control the civil power for their own advancement above all rivals. And the history of the past proves what will be the result in either case—the persecution of those who dissent from them. If one is to lose his head for dissent, what odds does it make whether it is a Catholic or “Protestant Christian Nation” that takes it off?

But though the preacher claimed that this Nation was designed of God to be a Protestant Christian Nation, the reporter affirms that according to the written Constitution of the United States, this is not a Christian Nation at all. Why? Because it places “Mohammedanism and infidelity, and even atheism, on a perfect equality at the national councils with Christianity itself.” Here is the rub: our Constitution, as well as the immortal Declaration, accords to all men equal rights. Like God it is no respecter of persons or of sects. This principle National Reformers are trying to subvert. They deplore the fact that it places others on a perfect equality at the national councils with themselves. They want the “Protestant Christian” religion elevated above all others in the national councils, and yet they don’t want a union of Church and State! Don’t they?

R. F. COTTRELL.